Maria Rodriguez
Host: Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Sponsor: Fish & Richardson P.C., Microsoft Corporation
Loretta empowered low-income children and families by providing direct representation to children in child welfare proceedings where reunification is the goal, while building a practice model focusing on collaboration with parents’ attorneys to avoid unnecessary removals, speed up the reunification process and keep families together.
New York City has approximately 9,000 children in foster care. Many of these children are removed from their families due to circumstances that stem from poverty. National studies have shown that children in foster care are at high risk for academic failure, violence, drug abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, and mental and physical illness. This project creates a practice model to shorten children’s stay in foster care by preventing initial removals and speeding up family reunification rates in order to improve life outcomes for children involved in the system and empower children and families.
In the past two years, Loretta has:
Now that the Fellowship is complete, Loretta plans to:
Host: Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Sponsor: Fish & Richardson P.C., Microsoft Corporation
Host: East Bay Children’s Law Offices
Sponsor: The Morrison & Foerster Foundation
Host: Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Sponsor: Microsoft Corporation, The Sidley Austin Foundation
Host: Community Legal Services of Philadelphia
Sponsor: Greenberg Traurig, LLP